CEdO510 The Future of the OS

Well let me begin by saying that I am probably the last person that you'd want to ask this question to as I don't fully understand the operating systems as a whole. I like to think that I have a descent grasp on technology and for the most part the operations of the computer, however, for some reason, I have never been able to fully grasp the concept of the operating system and the differences between the various OS's. I have always used Microsoft Windows XP until recently when I switched over to Windows Vista. At first I thought I would hate it but as I've grown accustomed to it I actually prefer it over XP. I think this will be the general progression with whatever OS the future holds or for that matter the lack there of. I do see a minimalist movement beginning to gain steam, however, I think that with the way our culture is and the fact that people like their bells and whistles, I don't see this truly taking over the market. I do think that society may go in the direction of a more webbased system with less demand for an OS, however, I currently can't see people giving up the OS as a whole. Then again, 5 years ago I would have thought it ridiculous to believe that our students would be working on computers with virtually no CPU as our students do in our library by working on thin client systems. There are some unbelievably intelligent people out there who know way more about this than I do and I guess I will just have to trust that they know better than I do what I want and need and I will just have to go with the flow and learn the systems as I go and I'm sure I will like their system better just as it has always been in the past.